Men who, like Ananias and Sapphira, seek to obtain credit for liberality, while keeping back that which is due to the Church and cause of God, may impose on their fellow-men, and may fancy that they can impose upon God. But they are themselves the victims of self-deception. They are moreover treating God with contempt. Yet He is not deceived, nor will He relax in their favour the universal law of His moral government, that as is the sowing, so also will be the reaping.

mocked There is a terrible rebuke implied in the choice of this word. It is far stronger than -deceived". The word means -to sneer at", and here denotes not merely the attempt to impose a cheat upon another, but the open gesture of contempt for one who is an easy dupe.

for whatsoever … reap A proverb found in Classical writers, and used by St Paul with verbal variations, 2 Corinthians 9:6. See some striking observations in F. W. Robertson's Sermon on this text.

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